Baucis and Philemon Lines 1-25

Iuppiter huc specie mortali cumque parente

Jupiter came here in mortal form, and, with his father

venit Atlantiades positis caducifer alis.

came the wand-bearing descendant of Atlas, with his wings set aside.

mille domos adiere locum requiemque petentes, mille domos clausere serae.

They approached a thousand houses seeking a place to rest, bolts shut a thousand houses.

tamen una recipit, parva quidem stipulis et cana tecta palustri,

However, one received them, a small one, it is true, covered with stalks and marshy reeds,

sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon

but the dutiful old woman Baucis, and Philemon of similar age,

illa sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus,

were united in that cottage in their younger years,

illa consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo

they grew old in that cottage, and by acknowledging their poverty,

effecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendo.

and bearing it with an not unfair mind, they made light of it.

nec refert, dominos illic famulosne requiras:

It does not matter whether you look for masters or the slaves there:

tota domus duo sunt, idem parentque iubentque.

the two are the whole house, the same people both obey and order.

ergo ubi caelocolae parvos tetigere penates

Therefore, when the heaven-dwellers arrived at the small house

summissoque humiles intrarunt vertice postes,

and entered the lowly doors with their heads lowered,

membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili,

the old man ordered them to relax their limbs on the couch which had been set up,

cui superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis.

over which busy Baucis placed a roughly woven cloth.

inde foco tepidum cinerem dimovit

Then she separated warm ash in the hearth

et ignes suscitat hesternos foloosque

and roused the fires of yesterday

et cortice sicco nutrit

and fed it with leaves and dry bark

et ad flammas anima producit anili,

and blew it to flames with an old woman's breath,

multifidasque faces

and she brought down torches split into many pieces

ramaliaque arida tecto detulit

and dry sticks from the roof,

et minuit parvoque admovit aeno,

and made them smaller and applied them to a small bronze pot

trucat hulos foliis

and she stripped a cabbage of its leaves,

quodque suus conjunx riguo collegerat horto

which her husband had gathered from the well-watered garden;

furca levat ille bicorni sordida terga suis

he lifted down with a two-pronged fork the sooty back of a pig

nigro pendentia tingo servatque

which was hanging on a black roof beam and

dui resecat de tergore partem exiguam

cut a thin slice from the back which had been preserved for a long time

sectamque domat ferentibus undis.

and softened it in the boiling water.